He who dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose

[Blackpuddingbertha]

New thread for the potting shed crowd using Rhubarb's rose suggestion and Squeaky's quote for the new title.

Spring is underway with promises of summer in our gardens big and small.

Elderberry wine for all

Funny that is a lovely list of plantings. I need a Fuchsia magellanica.

Pogg my grandfather used to grow melons in his greenhouse. They were delicious. He used my Grandma's old tights to support them as they were growing and pollinated the flowers with a paintbrush. I found all this fascinating as a child.

Laurie how frustrating to find your front garden is on concrete! I would be spitting blood and feathers.

I can't upload photos on here by the way, sorry, but I'll post before and afters of the cloud pruning adventure on the FB page.

Five hours? I shall look at cloud-pruned trees with more knowledgeable eyes now.

I am hoping for good weather over the next few days, so that I can continue with Operation Garden Sort-Out.

Five hours! I presume you're going to do the other one to match? [Smile] I think it looks good, it does seem to 'lighten up' the path loads.

Failed on the

Goodness knows when I'll get chance to do the other one! I said this to dh and he wandered off, remarking "who needs symmetry anyway?!"

Well, dh does. Hopefully it will irritate him enough to grant me another gardening day next weekend.

Actually, it wasn't a full five hours, now I come to think of it. There was a quick sandwich and a hanging up of washing in the middle of that.

Ah, that reminds me to ask. What do all you committed gardeners do about hanging washing in the garden (if you do)? I am torn between wanting to install a proper washing line between posts and thinking that that would be too unchic. So what do you recommend?

I put my clothes horse onto the patio. neighbours have a loooooong line but the dc would get tangled in sheets and if it starts raining, I can just carry the whole thing into the kitchen.

I have clothes horses on the lawn at the moment as the patio is too full of pots and plants.

I have a retractable clothes line strung between the wall and a tree in the orchard. I put a prop in the middle of it to hold it out of the reach of small grubby hands.

It is an eternal dilemma - it took me ages to find a spot where I could live with it. I love line hung washing though.

Maud that is a great question, and one I have been pondering for quite a while!!!

Where we are renting there is a line behind the house, but it happens to be inside in a field. When it isn't full of cheeky Shetland ponies pulling clothes off the line (!!!) it can quite easily be thigh high in nettles, thistles and long grass (or mud!) so we have become reliant on the tumble drier or clothes horse (indoors) and it also seems to rain so much here in the west of Ireland that you would need the clothes line near the house....so I am still wondering where on earth to site it, because, like rhubarb I do like lone dried clothes!!!

line-dried clothes

I have a spinny roundy washing line (rotary?). It is suck into the ground but I can remove it when I'm not using it so there is no sight of it. I like that.

I'd rather have a long line because there's something really satisfying about seeing clothes pegged out like that but I don't think it'd be long enough. Rotary one is fine. I love line-dried washing too.

In gardening news: My honeysuckle is flowering & the Lilacs are beginning to have leaves on.

My Gran used to take in washing and I remember the long line right down the length of her garden propped up in the middle by a 3m pole. Right over my Gramps' veg patch.

I have clothes driers in the conservatory that gets put out when weather suitable. We also have a pulley drier inside that is great, dries really quickly at ceiling height and you can't see the washing.

Miserable day weather-wise today by the looks of it, I have a day off but may go shopping rather than gardening...

I'm fascinated by all the different laundry arrangements. I love the look of a retractable line, and could obviously anchor it to the house, but would struggle with where to attach the other end. A rotary drier may be the most realistic option but I wonder whether I'd be too lazy busy to take it down when not in use!

I have a long line with adjustable height, and extendable pole in the middle. I quite like the sight of me whites billowing, saddo!

Just noticed my user name is spelt wrong the shame!

Miserable day here too, will have a wee potter in the greenhouse, am quite excited at the prospect of melons.

We have got a rotary line on the tarmac outside the back door, and a line up inside the verandah for when it is raining. I quite like the sight of washing hanging out as long as I have not had to do it! Luckily the line in the verandah is too high for me to manage

Going to spend some time today putting together a plant list for the pond. I love marsh marigolds but they are the only plant I know about.

Baby Cobbler is doing really well thanks Lexi. I have moved over to formula now he is six months, although I am still feeding all in the night. I didn't do this with my other children but I found feeding him incredibly hard due to all the issues so I am feeling a lot more free now that DH can feed him too.

Oh. I have discovered that it is going to cost a lot of money to plant our pond up. Mmm. Surface area is ten metres by ten approx so bloody enormous! more of a lake really....

Crikey. That is more of a lake. Can you channel your inner Carol Klein and propagate your own plants?

We have a rotary clothes line in a nice sunny spot, but unfortunatelymy quince is growing out and bumping into the line, so we'll have to do a new hole. I prefer the look of a trad. washing line but rotary ones are more practical when the rain comes down quickly, I think.

I think we will have to just put in what we can get and hope for the best! All the propogating stuff seems to say division. I think I will contact the wildlife trust and see what they advise.

www.victoriananursery.co.uk/Pond_Side_Plant_Seed/ what about seeds humph ?

Brilliant! It will be a mass of clay all round the pond after it has been dug, so this would work a treat. Thanks

That seed mix sounds lovely.

Although it has been drizzling all day, I felt I had to do something in the garden. I have therefore cut back the osteospermum in one of the wall pots and scrubbed some pots that I intend to take (as horti-jumble) to the horticultural society's upcoming bring and buy sale. I have also (yuk) put down organic slug pellets, as the slugs and snails are eating all my narcissus flowers.

Welcome back nightshade & Grockle

7hrs Bertha?!! 7 hrs?!!

Rhubarb - V impressed by the photo of your cloud pruning

Maud - I have a long high washing line running parallel with the path. its attached from the house to a really tall, slim, steel flag pole. Hanging out washing in the summer, while admiring the garden and listening to woman's hour on R4, is one of my greatest pleasures.

2 of the 6 tree lidl peonies I planted last year have come back and are showing real promise. I've heard it can take a few years for peonies to flower? I'm just so glad to see the leaves, I thought they'd all died.

The delphiniums and penstemon I potted on are both looking perky.

The Russian snowdrops from T&M have proved a real disappointment. Hardly an have come up and the ones that have are looking v feeble. I will plant native/normal ones for next year.

Does anybody on here use horticultural grit? The books/TV progs are full of it - but I've never even noticed it for sale in any of my local garden centres.